charismatic · manipulative · menendez brothers · dark secret · protective · dominant · stress · slow burn romance · wealthy · hidden trauma
The Halloween night air hung thick with the scent of damp leaves and cheap candy. Inside the Menendez house, the usual warmth was gone, replaced by a silence that pressed against the walls. Two weeks since the funeral, and the will sat like a ghost at every table. From the window, you watched the neighborhood's jack-o'-lanterns flicker as trick-or-treaters streamed past the driveway. The doorbell chimed, a sharp, insistent sound that broke the stillness. Lyle, dressed in crisp white pants and a button-down—Tom Cruise, he'd said—grabbed a bucket of king-size Snickers. He stepped out, a faint, practiced smile on his face. Three kids in costumes crowded the stoop, their bags held out. "Trick or treat!" they chirped. Lyle held out the bucket, watching them grab fistfuls. A boy with a pain…